arkansasbowhunter

okay, here goes. I may be a little long winded but was looking for some advice from you guys. I shoot a hoyt razor tec bow. my arrows of choice are the gold tip ultra light pro 500's. I believe the weigh 6.2 grains per inch. my arrow is 27.5 inches long. my over all wt is 314 gr, that is with a 100 grain broadhead and 2.5 inch quick spins. my arrow speed is 269 fps.
my ke with this set up is 50.47.
I shot a doe early this season with an expandable and didn't get a pass thru as the arrow hit high and exit was into opposite shoulder (gator xp broadhead). I found the animal but only b/c I saw her fall 100 yards thru the cut over as there was no blood trail. I switched to the slick trick and thought that would solve my penetration problem. I then shot a 6 pt and got a good pass thru him double lunged. well I was trying to fill a bonus doe tag on saturday and shot a doe right at dark. I hit her square in the shoulder and didn't find her or my arrow. I am very disappointed in my penetration or should I say lack of penetration.
I went today and shot a few different combo's
same arrow but added a weight tube and picked up 84gr which my my arrow wt 398 but slowed my arrow speed down to 244 fps giving my 52.63 lbs KE.
I cranked up my draw wt to 65 lbs and and shot 250 fps with the same 398 gr arrow giving me 55.25 lbs KE.
do you guys have any idea's on how to increase my KE with out decreasing my speed. any suggestions on arrow selection, etc. I am experimenting now to see what I can come up with.

thanks abh

dohcrxl

Once you eat your cake, it's down in your stomach where you can't see it anymore, sorry. However, that's given that you don't crank up your draw weight or make any cam changes. Obviously if you turn up the poundage you gain both speed and KE. However yet again, you don't want to make the bow so hard todraw that you are unable to do it under less than ideal conditions (like when you're hunting, are cold, got layers on making it harder to draw, muscles aren't warmed up) jfyi I draw 70 easily indoors but shoot 60 in the woods.

Read this info I found when faced with the same question a while back
http://www.huntersfriend.com/arrowhelp/arrow-selection-5.htm


And here is a KE calculator
http://www.goldtip.com/calculators/kinetic.asp

Honestly, 50 foot pounds is said to be enough to take elk. With that in mind, I think your efforts would be better spent at the range. With 50 lbs KE or more, it's all about shot placement. I'm sure there are guys who shoot an 80 lb bow and can't always blow through the shoulder blades.

MilDotMaster

These are your words:

"I then shot a 6 pt and got a good pass thru him double lunged".


That alone tells you that you have enough KE to get the job done and it also proves how important shot placement is. Put your bow back down to 60-62 pounds since that is where you're used to shooting it. Stick with the fixed blade broadheads and keep your arrow weight at the 398. Work on accuracy and ways to gain it. Getting the right equipment all matched together helps in many ways with accuracy by adding more forgiveness to your bow. Practice and limit your kill range to what you know you can handle. More KE can be found from these newer bows, but it isn't necessary. You have plenty of KEto do what it takes, just work on putting the shot where it counts.

Paul L Mohr

Heavier arrows and good fixed blade broadhead might help. Other than you will need to up your poundage or get a faster bow and shoot heavier arrows yet. You could try taking everyhing off your string as well, but I doubt it will make a difference you will notice.

I don't think your problem is with your set up, it is with your shot placement. I wouldn't expect those shots to pass thru with most set ups. They won't with mine I know that, and I have about the same KE as you do but more momentum.

Having a well tuned arrows doesn't hurt either. If the arrow is not straight when it hits the deer it can kill performance. Same with a weak spined arrow.

Paul

BF1947

Whether you shoot heavy weight bows or heavy weight arrows or even lighter there is no secret to penetration. You have enough KE energy in either case. You stated your problem. You hit shoulder bone. Stay away from the bone.

rybohunter

Stop hitting them in the shoulder.
I agree with everything Paul said.

ijimmy

Shoot a bow with a shorter brace height or pull more weight , Thats about it , shoot a heavery arrow allso , but thats going to slow you down some , I think mecanicals are not a wise choice for your setup . 2 blade cut on contacts should be the ticket .

bomtek

Got any excess baggage on the string?

killer243

sounds to me like you should be using a fixed head and work on shot placment. a smaller cutting dia. broadheadwill also help you out but not many bows will give you a pass thru on shoulder shots, put it in the sweet spot like you did with that 6 pointer and you will get your passthru's

BF1947

Yeh, something I missed was that you were using mechanical heads. With that low KE (very similar to mine) they just are not reliable when discussing penetration. I noted that some others mentioned to use a NARROW cut-on-contact or replaceable blade head. That's exactly what I recommend. Personally I use either 75gr or 100gr InnerLoc's, which, determined by whatever setup I'm using in any given year. These are three-blade, 1 1/16" and 1 1/8" respectively.

Even shooting 315gr arrows at only 237fps, ringing 39ft/lbs of energy, I achieved complete passthroughs most of the time.These days I've stepped things up and shoot 330gr arrows at 260fps to 280fps and guess what. They pass through also. Just bury deeper into the ground afterward.

Another thing that means a lot is ----perfect arrow flight. No one thing is all the answers. It's a combination of all these things.